A lovely review by Eyal Hareuveni for the SALT PEANUTS webzine of HUNT AT THE BROOK AGAIN/HUNT AT THE BROOK WITH NEIL METCALFE.

“The double album Hunt at the Brook Again / Hunt at the Brook with Neil Metcalfe features Thompson in a trio in the first album with clarinetist Tom Jackson and violist Benedict Taylor, recorded at Stamford Brook in London in April 2019, and in a quartet in the second album, with the addition of veteran flutist Neil Metcalfe (known for his ongoing work with Paul Dunamll and the London Improvisers Orchestra), recorded at the same location a month later. Engineer Dave Hunt captured both sessions. The album’s title also refers to the first recording of the trio of Jackson, Taylor and Thompson, Hunt at the Brook (FMR, 2015), recorded at the same place, and by Hunt.

The trio brings a chamber sensibility to free improvisation and suggests a delicate and introspective exchange of ideas. These six improvisations flow organically and are much more relaxed and playful, rich with extended techniques, and often create a hypnotic and poetic, collective sound painting, as Guy Peters observed in his liner notes. These improvisations also balance the joyful spontaneity of the moment with the sensibility of instant composition. The four quartet improvisations introduce an intense and restless, risk-taking dimension to the intimate and chamber dynamics of the trio but the quartet finds its balance immediately. These improvisations create a collective tapestry of ideas and gestures, again, as complex compositions, with pure lyricism, especially on the third improvisation, and surprising elegance.” Salt Peanuts – Norway